Rajagopalaswamy Temple

The complex spreads across three acres and is entered by an impressive gopuram. Within a pillared hall stands the central shrine, raised over ground, first and second floors; each floor holds a sanctum with a stucco image of Vishnu, seated, standing or reclining. Such three-storeyed Ashtanga vimāna temples are rare.

The temple holds rare works in metal and wood. The Sesha vahana is a single cast bronze disc in the form of a Tree of Life, locally called a Jedi, filled with animals of remarkable realism. Adjoining the Tiruvaimozhi maṇḍapa is a grand door of finely carved wooden panels. Close by is the resting place of Kulasekhara Alwar, the Kerala king who composed the Perumal Tirumozhi, from the early-13th-century Pandya period.

The book gives the deity as Vishnu as Veda Narayana and the 11th-century name as Rajendra Vinnagar, after the Chōḷa king Rājendra I (1014 to 1044), built by a Chera king subordinate to the Chōḷas. From its inscriptions it places construction in the early 11th century, with Pandya additions in the early 13th century.

The walls record the temple's society in detail. Land transactions ran through the temple's Mahasabha, an assembly with representatives from each of twelve Ceri, elected by local landowners rather than nominated by the king. A record of 1024 CE lists the temple's gardeners, pipers, labourers, shepherds and dancing women, or Devaradiar. Inscriptions show tax-free temple land, Pandya viceroys issuing orders under Chōḷa rule, a boundary dispute settled on documentary proof, and a 1221 CE agreement on careful sharing of irrigation water. A later Chera record of 1523 notes the appointment of dancing girls. The book cites Tirumalai 1980.

Today the Garuda shrine outside the walls is held very powerful; many come there to make a vow and break a coconut when it is fulfilled.